


Stand AU Extras

by Shyrstyne



Series: Heart Hotel Stands AU [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Dealing with past trauma, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, eventual axel/saix, hints of sorikai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22383973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyrstyne/pseuds/Shyrstyne
Summary: Bits and pieces in the stand AU universe.
Series: Heart Hotel Stands AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1478012
Comments: 98
Kudos: 160





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> no, kh2 still isn't done sorry >< i'm still plugging away at it though (currently on chapter 7!)
> 
> in the meantime, have some baby ficlets i did when i was fighting with writers block on other stuff. first up, the end of 358 from axel's POV

Axel runs.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

They’d made plans, eventualities, and yet it all seemed to be for naught. None of his and Saïx’s careful planning had accounted for the possibility that Xion herself would go along with this nonsense. Axel had never thought himself clumsy with words, but not telling Roxas the truth from the beginning, about Xion, about his ‘ghost’… maybe that had been a mistake. It wasn’t one he could undo now. 

He wishes Saïx were with him now, maybe it would quell the rapid racing of his heart. He almost wishes it were numb again, against the panic in his throat, but he doesn’t mean it. He just wants the kids to be okay.

Saïx was covering for him, telling Xemnas an ‘unforeseen heartless event’ was taking place on one of the worlds and Axel was going to check it out. He was probably fabricating the requisite paperwork even now. That was important, Axel knew, to keep Xemnas in the dark. He still wishes he had his oldest friend at his side.

“Roxas!” He shouts, seeing the blond at the top of the clocktower. He portals up, finds Xion walking across empty air.

“Hello, Axel.” Her voice sounds dead and lifeless, almost malevolent. Her face looks like Sora. “You’re not part of this equation, but I won’t let you stop me either.”

“Xion, stop this!” He calls. “This doesn’t have to happen!”

“It’s too late.” She shakes her head. 

Then she lashes out, and Axel’s world goes dark.

-

When he wakes up, he’s slumped against the stone wall of the clocktower. His head pounds painfully, but he’s alive. He sits up, and something clatters to the ground. He sees a little wooden stick that had been sitting in his lap and picks it up.

It’s a winner stick.

His eyes widen and his chest clenches painfully, but he won’t let himself cry yet. It hasn’t been long, judging by the sunset. Maybe there’s still time.

He runs around Twilight Town but finds no trace of them. He tries other worlds even, but nothing. There’s no sign of Roxas anywhere.

And…?

Roxas and……?

He shakes his head.

He has to find his kids. There were two of them, he knows, even if the details are getting fuzzy. That was a known side effect. Of what? Saïx had told him. Something about replica’s?

His hand clenches on the winner stick.

It’s late now, and Axel finally has to admit to himself that whatever happened, it’s over now. He heads back to the castle. Maybe Saïx will know where to look, somehow. It’s the only hope he has left.

Xigbar is in the Hall Of Naught, almost as if waiting for him. Axel doesn’t have the energy or patience to deal with him, but he can’t let on about that, so when Xigbar smirks and starts to talk, he lets him.

“So the Poppet’s ran off. Unfortunate.”

“Hm.” Is all Axel has to say. He tries to walk past the scarred man. Xigbar just chuckles.

“Heard the lesser nobodies sayin’ he was down in the city earlier, ran into the imposter. Tough break.”

Axel freezes.

“What?”

“Yeah. Got drug off who knows where, if they didn’t kill him outright. Too bad, really. Xemnas won’t be pleased about losing his only keyblade wielder.”

That wasn’t right there were two-

Axel stands ramrod straight, unable to hear anything but the rasp of his own breath.

They were gone.

Oh stars, they were  _ gone. _

His chest clenches painfully, and he’s glad he’s facing away from Xigbar. He stalks from the hall without another word. He can’t portal right now, not in his state, so he walks as fast as his shaking body will let him. He can't show his panic, his weakness. Not in these halls. You never knew who or what might be watching.

He doesn’t knock when he reaches Saïx’s door.

His kids are gone.

Grief hits him like a blow to the chest, and he’s grateful Saïx is already there, blinking owlishly at his state. 

_ Please, _ he thinks.  _ I just need someone right now. _

Isa pulls him close, and he breaks.


	2. The Tree Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi falls from a tree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh hey it's that thing characters have been referencing since like.. part one. i got hit by the writing bug and instead of working on the actual au i decided to finally write out this au's Noodle Incident. file this one under 'things i should have included in the main story but didn't because i'm a doofus who struggles to write linearly'

Kairi climbs. 

She can hear Sora giggling somewhere below her, and she can just see Riku weaving in and out of the branches above, all confident grace. The grin across her own face almost hurts with how wide it is as she scrambles from branch to branch. What a wonderful game it is.

Until her foot slips, the strap on one sandel having come loose and made her footing unsteady. She doesn’t have a good enough grip on the branch above her, and for one heart stopping moment time seems to halt entirely as she hovers in the air.

Then she starts to fall.

She shrieks as she tumbles, branches catching at her skin and clothes as they whip by. She flails, trying to grab them, but everything she grabs is too small to hold and do no good.

She sees Sora’s face as she goes past him, and he looks terrified. Some distant part of her brain wonders if Riku knows what’s happening below him.

“Kairi!” Sora yells, panicked. Kairi knows the ground can’t be far now and closes her eyes, curling into a ball on instinct. She doesn’t know how much good it will do, but it’s the only thing she has left to her.

She falls into something, but it’s not the ground. It’s not a comfortable thing, pointed and jarring, but it’s far nicer than what she’d expected the ground far below to feel like.

She hears wild scrabbling from nearby and the snap of branches. She’s still too stunned to open her eyes.

“Is she okay? Are you okay Kairi?” She hears Sora’s voice. He sounds out of breath.

“Kairi! What happened?” And that’s Riku. He doesn’t sound too far, had he scrambled down that quickly?

She feels movement, and then realizes her arm is starting to hurt.

“Oh gosh oh gosh-” Sora frets. Kairi musters the courage to open her eyes, and look up into the faceless mask of her saviour.

“Vani?” She asks. She’d only seen the ghost boy a couple of times, and never so close. He’d always been kind of frightening to her, so she hadn’t minded his stand-offishness. She’s still kind of frightened, the adrenaline of her fall setting all kinds of latent instincts ablaze.

She doesn’t know how to deal with it all, so instead she starts to cry.

The hands holding her tiny body twitch, and if she hadn’t been in the midst of bawling, she would have realised he looked very uncomfortable all of a sudden.

He drifts downward, and before she knows it he’s set her down on the warm sand of the beach. She’s distantly aware of Sora and Riku hurrying down the tree so they can reach her, but in that moment as she sniffles pathetically she looks up at Vanitas, who looks very uncertain what to do now.

Her arm throbs, and she finally looks down at it.

She’s bleeding, and with five nearly lateral scratches across her arm it isn’t hard to figure out what caused it. She looks back up at the armoured figure hover above her, wickedly pointed hands and all. Thankfully the scratches aren’t deep, but they do hurt and her new sundress is surely ruined.

She sniffles, new tears welling, though from what now she’s not even sure anymore. Her arm, the scare of falling, the fear that her new foster family might throw her out for wrecking the dress they’d gifted her when she’d moved in. It was all just too much.

Vanitas shrinks back, and then vanishes.

“Kairi! Kairi are you okay?” Sora runs up, Riku right behind him.

“We should get someone to look at that.” Riku says, looking at her arm. She doesn’t think it really needs attention (she’s not sure where she learned that, but she feels certain of it), but at the very least it needs some bandaids, so she lets Riku pull her up and lead her towards the boats.

She’d been right, it had been nothing a few bandaids couldn’t fix and her new parents hadn’t thrown her out, yet she finds herself laying awake in bed that night.

“I should have said thank you.” She says out loud to the empty darkness of her room. She doesn’t like the dark much, always keeping a nightlight on and the curtains open. She pulls herself up to look out the window. Sora’s house is only just down the road, she can see the eaves of it from her room. Riku’s is further away, but not so far they can’t walk to it on a nice day.

She pulls on her sandals without really thinking about it or why. She hops out her ground floor window, dropping to the ground below, not thinking about how difficult it will be to climb back in later. Her seven year old logic simply left such questions for later consideration. Her parents garden is in full bloom, and she figures her father won’t miss a few missing flowers, picking a few as she passes.

Sora’s window is open, and closer to the ground than her own, so she can climb in without too much fuss. Which isn’t to say she’s completely silent, but she hasn’t known Sora long and already knows he can sleep through almost anything. Her foot catches on the windowsill and she knocks over a stack of toys as she stumbles, but Sora simply continues to snore.

Kairi dusts herself off and straightens up, regrouping her composure despite the fact that there wasn’t anyone to witness it.

Or at least, _maybe_ there isn’t.

“Vanitas?” She whispers. Suddenly she’s not so sure of this plan. Could they even hear in there when Sora was asleep? Perhaps she should have waited until morning. She gnaws on her lip, fiddling with the flowers in one hand nervously.

“Vanitas?” She tries again, a little louder, but hopefully not so loud as to wake Sora’s parents. She doesn’t want to shake Sora though- she just wants to talk to Vanitas.

The silence drags on, and her shoulders fall. This was a silly plan, wasn’t it? She sniffles a little, upset at her own lack of planning. She puts the flowers on Sora’s bedside table and turns away.

Something in the air changes, making her pause. That awful greasy feeling crawls down her spine, and she turns to see the same faceless armour she’d seen earlier that day.

“Oh, you came!” She says, surprised. Vanitas crosses his arms, waving his hand in a clear ‘what do you want?’ gesture.

“Oh, um-” Kairi grabs the flowers she’d set down and holds them up to him. “These are for you.”

Vanitas doesn’t move, and Kairi starts to get the feeling like she’s being looked down upon. She tries to move closer, putting the flowers nearly against his chest, but he smacks her hand away dismissively.

The flowers fall across Sora’s bedspread, and Kairi stares at them, dumbfounded.

Vanitas makes a disinterested ‘shoo’ motion, and now she just feels angry.

“Why would you do that?” She whisper-yells. “I just wanted to say thank you for catching me because my grandma told me you always gotta say thankyou when someone does something nice for you but you’re just- you’re just mean!”

She’s crying again by the end of it, and she hates that she’s done so much crying today, but she can’t help it. It’s been a long day, she’s tired and hurting and now she’s angry. She whirls away from the floating armour and hauls herself out of Sora’s window.

She turns after only a few steps. She can still see Vanitas through the window.

“I feel bad Sora has to deal with a meanie like you!”

And then she runs all the way home. She curls up into her blankets and pulls the biggest plush she has in to hug it tightly. It doesn’t give as good a hugs as her grandma, but it does the best it can. She thinks of her grandma, realizing she doesn’t remember the exact contours of her face nowadays, and then cries some more, wanting more than anything to go home.

-

Vanitas stares at the scattered detritus across Sora’s sheets. He could just leave it. Sora probably wouldn’t even notice with how chaotic his room was.

_“I feel bad Sora has to deal with a meanie like you!”_

_‘So what,’_ he thinks. _‘I’m darkness, and guess what, darkness is mean.’_

So why hasn’t he vanished back into the depths of Sora’s heart yet?

He stares down at the sleeping boy, completely unaware of the dramatics that had taken place only just above his head. He was in a proper sleep tonight, not with him or Ven. He wouldn’t know unless he himself told him.

Ven probably wasn’t watching. They’d gone from paranoid hyper-vigilance with each other to complete avoidance. Whatever. Vanitas didn’t care as long as no one tried to kill him.

The ocean breeze drifts through the window, catching the silk soft petals of the flowers and making them flutter.

On impulse, he picks one up.

He can’t feel it, these armour bodies don’t feel much of anything, but he sees the green stem crush under his sharp fingers easily, despite what he’d thought was a light touch.

Clear sap bleeds from the stem, and for a moment in the dim light it looks red.

 _‘Whatever.’_ He thinks again. He picks up the rest of the flowers and throws them out the window, where they flutter down into the bushes unseen.

Vanitas doesn’t come out again, and he doesn’t open windows outside. He stays on the scattered and crumbling pieces of his heart station and he waits for nothing in particular.

He can see Ventus on his own station, though Ventus can’t see him. Ventus tries to keep himself busy, sometimes he sleeps, but usually he’s watching the windows, either outside or old memories, or he’s practicing. They have no muscles here, no bodies to waste away, but Ventus does it anyway, going through the motions he went through in life and sometimes adding in some new ones for fun.

Vanitas doesn’t do any of that. He didn’t do it when Xehanort had explicitly demanded him to and he wasn’t going to do it now.

He looks across the dark emptiness outside the heart stations. It feels like looking across the badlands. Empty and oppressive.

One prison for another.

Sora comes to visit him, and though he is his jailer it is also the only thing that makes all this bearable, though he would never admit it out loud. His head lifts whenever he hears that tiny voice call out asking if he can come in, and every time he allows it.

He doesn’t care how Sora’s day went, or the new friends he’s made, and he could care less about the inanities of child life, but he lets Sora prattle on about it anyway. The child’s earnest enthusiasm is soothing somehow, instead of grating, and it keeps him from his own thoughts for at least a few minutes.

A few days later, Sora calls out to be let in, and Vanitas is instantly paying attention. The boy sounds subdued, a far cry from his usual excitement. Vanitas lets him in, and Sora slumps next to him, hugging his knees.

A far cry from the kid that usually crawled right into his lap without even a thought.

He finds himself… sad somehow, at that.

They sit quietly, though Vanitas sneaks glances at the solemn child at his side. It doesn’t occur to him to say something, and probably wouldn’t have known what to say even if he had.

Thankfully, after a long few minutes, Sora spares him the realization.

“I had a fight with Kairi.”

“That so.” Vanitas says, not really knowing where this was going. To his surprise, Sora starts to sniffle.

“She called you a meanie! And dumb! _She’s_ the meanie!” The child shouts, angry tears forming in his eyes. Vanitas blinks.

“Why are you surprised?”

Sora hiccups, wiping at his eyes in his confusion.

“B-because you’re not a meanie, she shouldn’t say that!”

The first laugh is more a surprised exhale of air, but then he laughs again, and again, and soon Vanitas is all but doubled over in laughter. It doesn’t feel good.

“Vani?” Sora asks, uncertain.

“Get out.”

His voice is breathless between his giggles, and somehow something malicious bleeds into his tone. Sora is so confused he’s sure he had misheard him.

“What?”

“Get out!" Vanitas stands, towering over the seven year old, smiling wide and angrily. He holds it for a second more before his expression falls, a scowl settling across his features. “Go. Sora.”

Sora stands, and he’s trembling, scared, and Vanitas feels his heart twist at seeing it but he can’t stop himself. The emotions roiling in him and around him are too much.

“No. What’s going on, Vani? You’re not-”

“Not what, Sora?” Vanitas shouts. “A bad person? News flash kid, I AM a bad person!”

“No you’re not!” Sora shouts back. “You’re Vani, you’re not bad!”

“You want proof?” Vanitas roars, and memory windows sprout around him. He attacks Aqua, snaps Ventus’ toy, taunts and fights with Ventus, each with the intent to hurt, to kill. The feel rises around them, floating red and black wisps from the cracks of his heart station. Memories of the unversed as they disrupt and attack and feel nothing but their own, singular emotion (and pain, so, so much pain). The emotions feel like they’re new all over again, and Vanitas lashes out.

“Here’s your _proof!”_

Sora’s still shaking, but he doesn’t move, staring up at Vanitas with wide, tear filled eyes.

“But you’re my friend.”

“It’s just a game. We’re trapped here, and you’re the jailer. That doesn’t make us friends.” He sneers, stepping forward and leaning down into Sora’s space, making the child flinch back. Distantly, he can hear Ventus calling. Just as distantly, he hopes he’ll stop him.

“Why are you doing this?” Sora asks, voice nearly a whisper. Vanitas doesn’t know anything but the jagged edges in his chest.

“BECAUSE I _AM_ A BAD PERSON.” He shouts. _“And it’s time you learned that.”_

Sora squeezes his eyes shut, but when he opens them again there is nothing but steel in his eyes.

“No, you’re not.” He says, and his voice shakes with the effort. “But you’re not being very nice right now either.”

“Sora, what’s happening? Sora?!” Ventus is still calling, but Vanitas’ station is still shielded from him. Vanitas doesn’t move, doesn’t change his stance hovering over Sora threateningly. What is he doing. _What is he doing?_

“I’m waking up now.” Sora says, and they both hear him judging by how Ventus pauses. Sora hesitates only a second more, like he wants to say something more, but he doesn’t, and a moment later he vanishes into the world of waking.

Vanitas slumps on the center of his broken station, all the tension in his body leaving him at once.

How awful.

He was awful.

“Vanitas…?” He hears Ventus call, hesitant. Vanitas barely has the energy to muster up to answer.

“Leave me alone.” He doesn’t raise his voice, but he doesn’t have to.

“Why did you-”

“I said _leave me alone.”_ He snarls, the heat returning to his voice only for a moment.

Ventus doesn’t press. He’s both grateful and quietly seethes about it. What does he even want? He doesn’t know. What a mess he is.

He doesn’t deserve even a prison so nice as this.

-

Sora wakes up with tears already on his face. He crawls out of bed and dodges his mothers concerned questioning. He’s caught by indecision for a moment outside, but he knows who he needs to talk to right now.

Kairi is playing outside in her parents garden, knees and hands covered in dirt, thought she's tried to be mindful about not getting it in the bandages on her arm. She smiles when she looks up and sees him, but her expression falls when she takes in his expression.

She stands, and when he steps closer she hugs him, and he bursts into full sobbing.

“I’m so-sorry for yelling.” He cries. She pats his back.

“I’m sorry too.” She answers, sniffling a little herself in empathy to his tears. “I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

They sit in the dirt and cry for a while, each just taking the moment to release the pent up emotions. This is how Riku finds them some twenty minutes later.

“... What happened?” He asks.

The story is disjointed and probably a little confusing, but Riku absorbs it with the solemn and thoughtful face he always does.

“Why would he do that?” Is the first question he asks. Sora frowns.

“I dunno.” Kairi says, picking at the dirtied edges of her sundress. Sora frowns harder, clearly thinking hard.

“I think…” He says slowly. “I think he’s scared.”

Riku nods like this makes sense, but Kairi tilts her head, confused.

“Why?”

“I dunno.” Sora says. “It’s just this feelin’ I got.”

“Sometimes people do bad things when they’re scared.” Riku says in that tone that Sora’s mom has always lovingly called his ‘Old Soul’ voice. Sora hums.

“He still shouldn’t be mean, though.” Kairi frowns. Riku nods.

“No, he shouldn’t.”

“What if he apologized?” Sora says. Kairi blinks.

“That would be okay.”

“Okay. I need to talk to him.” Sora curls up right there in all the flowers. Riku chuckles at him, offering his thigh as a pillow, which Sora takes gratefully.

It takes a few minutes, he’s not yet used to making himself fall asleep, but soon he finds himself dropping in the black expanse of the heart stations.

He lands on his station and looks around.

“Vani?” He calls out. He can’t see the others station, or even the pieces that often float around it. Sora frowns.

“Vaniiiiiiii.” Sora cups his hands around his mouth, calling as loud as he can. Neither Vanitas nor his station appear, and Sora frowns, discouraged.

“I think he needs some space.” Sora looks up and finds Ven there, looking down at him with a worried expression that confuses Sora a little bit. Why is Ven worried?

“But…” Sora hesitates, before shaking his head and turning out into the darkness again. “Vani please I wanna talk!”

The floating bits of station slowly filter into sight, though Sora can’t see past the first few to the majority of station where Vanitas likely is. He hops forward anyway. He’s almost tall enough to step from each piece rather than jumping, but not quite. Each step reveals more ahead, until finally they simply stop.

“Go away, Sora.”

Sora stands on the little floating piece of rubble, staring out into the darkness. He knows Vanitas’ heart must be only just in front of him, but he can’t see it.

Fine, he thinks. They’ll talk like this then. He sits on the amalgamate of rock and glass, feet dangling over the dark abyss.

He thinks back to the things that had been said, and one thing jumps out at him.

“Do you really think of me as.. Like this is a prison?”

There’s a long pause, and Sora wonders if he’d even heard him. Finally, Vanitas answers.

“It’s not about how I feel about it. I’m stuck here. We’re stuck here. That’s all there is to it.”

“I’m sorry.” Sora says. “I wish there was something I could do..” More than anything, he wishes. He never wanted to hurt anyone.

He can almost imagine Vanitas’ deliberately nonchalant shrug in response, though he can’t see it.

“I think.. I get why you’re hurting then. But you shouldn’t be mean just because you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared.” The answer is immediate and defensive. Sora leans back on his hands a bit.

“It’s okay to be scared, to be hurt. But you should still apologize when you hurt someone else.”

“I’m not apologizing. I don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“You hurt Kairi’s feelings. It’d make her feel better if you did.”

Vanitas snorts dismissively. Sora sighs and wraps his arms around himself.

“It’d make _me_ feel better.”

There’s a flash and there’s Vanitas, standing on the crumbling edge just ahead of Sora, looking directly at him.

“Why?”

“Because it hurt my feelings too.” Sora says. He can’t meet the intense red stare of Vanitas’ anymore, looking down at his swinging feet morosely. “But I guess you shouldn’t if it wouldn’t be real.”

Vanitas crouches.

“What do you want, Sora?” He asks, and Sora looks up. For a moment he’s confused until he sees the lost expression and understands the question beneath the question. He realises that Vanitas truly doesn’t know what he’s doing, a far cry from the Cool Older Kid that happened to take residence in his heart that Sora has subconsciously built him up to be.

He was still hurting, and he still needed help.

“I want a hug.” Sora answers, and wordlessly Vanitas holds his arms out.

Sora jumps into them without hesitation. Vanitas never initiates things like touching, and though this still barely counted, something about it felt especially good.

“Thank you.” Sora murmurs into his collarbone. He feels Vanitas hold just a little bit tighter.

“I’m sorry.” He hearts Vanitas rumble, so quietly he’s sure he wouldn’t have heard it at all if it hadn’t been directly in his ear, and Sora smiles.

-

Sora wakes up, and notices he’s been drooling on Riku’s pant leg. Gross. Thankfully, Riku either doesn’t notice or chooses not to comment on it. Sora sits up, rubbing his eyes.

“What did he say?” Kairi asks curiously. Sora opens his mouth to answer but is interrupted when Vanitas forms in front of the trio, tall and imposing in sharp blacks and reds.

Kairi looks up at him with a hard expression and waits.

His head tilts down, Kairi somehow feeling like he's looking at her bandaged arm, and she pulls it to her chest self consciously. After a moment he reaches down and to her surprise tugs at her sandal. It’s the same one she had been wearing that day on the tree, and the strap has come loose again, she notices.

He pulls on the thin material, and then snaps it cleanly.

“Hey!” She protests, but a wave from his sharp hands makes her pause. He reaches down again, and pulls at the ends, tying them together tightly in a way they will surely not come loose again.

He moves back, and she lifts her foot to inspect his handiwork. She can still slip the sandal on and off, but with the strap now secured it’s much less likely to slip when it’s not meant to. She looks back up at him.

“Thank you.” She says, and he nods.

Then he vanishes, leaving the three of them alone in the garden.

“Was that his apology?” Riku asks. Kairi hums.

“I think so.” She says, standing and testing out her sandal some more. “C’mon, let’s go play!”

Sora whoops and surges to his feet, instantly ready to go. Riku laughs and follows after them a little more sedately.

Maybe he couldn’t say the words, Kairi thinks, but she thinks they can still work out their differences okay if they try.

And she intends to try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> going back to 'still explicitly hurting and broken' vanitas is interesting, bc he's not the same as canon van anymore but he hasn't gotten to the same level-headedness he's achieved in the main fic. it's a fun but challenging place to write in after spending so much time writing the latter


	3. Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of Kh1, Ventus and Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> today on; things i really should have included in the main fic but forgot to so here have a bitfic

When Sora fights Ansem, there are a lot of things going on. A lot of things Ventus doesn’t understand.

Ansem feels familiar, in a way that almost feels wrong. When Ansem calls ‘Come, Guardian!’ it’s almost like time stops.

More than Ansem, the Guardian feels _familiar._ Sora doesn’t have time to cast his gaze aside, ask why Ventus freezes so thoroughly, keyblade armour bared but unmoving. Ansem is already on the attack, and the moment is broken.

“Submit!”

Guardian lashes out obediently, catching Sora’s arm and making him cry out. Ven throws himself between them, shoving the dark being back as Donald calls out for Cure behind him.

The feeling returns, and the Guardian stares down at him, something calling out unintelligibly. He still doesn’t know what it is.

Ansem calls Guardian back, and for a brief moment it writhes, clawing at the bindings across its face.

Ansem goes back on the offensive. There still isn’t time to think.

It catches Sora again, and it seems almost focused on the boy, hovering over and around him, creeping into his body and heart, lashing out and making Sora stumble erratically.

 _‘No!’_ Ventus thinks, unable to yell. The familiarity returns in force, but it no longer matters, he’s hurting Sora and that is not allowed.

Vanitas, still within Sora’s heart, throws up barriers, keeping the rogue heartless out, all the more effective for being made from the same sort of darkness as the Guardian itself. It’s desperate and haphazard, but it seems to work. Ventus doesn’t know if Van is getting the same weird feelings from the monster as he is, but he can’t ask and there isn’t time right now anyway.

Between the three of them, they force the presence out, and Ansem calls the Guardian back to his side with a deliberately casual gesture.

It.. makes Ventus angry, for some reason. The complete dominion Ansem has over this creature. He’s not sure why. He’ll analyse it later, he thinks (he never will).

When Ansem transforms, the Guardian changes too, but now the familiarity is gone. Or maybe it’s not there at all anymore- it’s hard to tell with the strange changes Ansem has done to himself, all strange organic and most of all _enormous._

Vanitas joins him at that point, it’s clear now that they need every bit of firepower at their disposal if they’re going to beat this monstrosity. It’s frantic and chaotic, but between their motley group, finally, Ansem falls.

They watch him reduced to his original (is it though? That was Riku’s body, molded to a different form. Where is Riku?), and then watch more as the Light of Kingdom Hearts obliterates him.

And if Ventus feels sad, then surely it is only because they don’t know what this means for Riku yet, right?


	4. Touch Starved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> During Approaching Storms Chapter 3, when Sora goes home to pick up Kairi.
> 
> Namine never struck me as the touchy type, and Riku has other shit on his mind. DiZ certainly isn't hugging anybody during 358, and thus High Key Touch Starved Haru is now a Thing. enjoy

It was agreed that Haru would stay on the ship while Sora went to see his family.

This was fine with Haru, who had no particular attachment to the place, and no real interest in forming one. He had scattered memories of the place from Riku, and aside from some vivid ones of Sora, there is very little else to endear him to it. He remembers Riku’s parents only in the abstract, in feelings of distant disdain and a deep loneliness.

He thinks Riku would be fine if Haru chose not to inform his parents of his well being.

But as time drags on and Haru gets more and more antsy waiting, he starts to debate the validity of going out anyway.

He paces the length of the ship, back and forth, back and forth, fists clenching and unclenching at his side. How long had they been gone? And hour? Two? Surely they should have been back by now?

He knows the Islands are some of the safest places among the worlds (when they aren’t being pulled apart by jealous teenagers spurned on by Gay Panic anyway), but that doesn’t stop him from the terror building in his throat, the fear that something might have happened without him.

“I’ll just go and check.” He says out loud, to himself. “Stay out of sight, make sure they’re okay.”

He hopes he remembers enough of the Islands to sneak around effectively. If not, he hopes he can pull of his best Riku impression (both easier and more difficult then one would think, after months of deliberately eschewing as many of Riku’s habits as he could).

He leaves the ship, checking his every corner and flitting from bush to bush. He makes it from the empty play Island to the mainland with a minimum of incident, and it’s only when Sora’s house comes into view that Haru realises that he’s made his way there almost entirely on instinct. Riku knew the way to Sora’s home better than he knew the way to his own. He shakes his head as if trying to dislodge that information.

He’d been so jealous of his originator, for being real. He’s starting to wonder if neither of them really had it better.

He peers around Sora’s home, not seeing anything immediately but he keeps looking, knowing there are at least a couple rooms that can’t be seen from the outside. He peers in the back door, left slightly ajar as it always is, trying to be as discreet as possible.

Still no one, but he hears voices. A laugh.

His conscious mind is distantly yelling that he should leave now, that he has his proof that they’re fine and he should return to the ship, but a deeper, stronger part of him compels him forward. He edges into the porch, stepping silently past the trappings of daily house life and scattered knickknacks, towards the half open door inside where a light gently streams from the crack.

Another laugh. It’s feminine, and older, but it has the same rise and fall of Sora’s (something he only knows from Riku, Haru realises. He’s never had the opportunity to hear a true laugh from Sora. That makes his stomach twist uncomfortably). He peers in.

Sora’s mother is short, boisterous woman with untamable spiky hair and deep laugh lines across her face. She holds her son close as they talk, and the grief in her features is only outweighed by the obvious relief to have seen him again. They speak quickly and casually, Kairi across the table smiling along and occasionally joining in.

It’s Kairi who spots him, the instinctive joy at seeing a familiar and long missed face quickly replaced by a sour look that makes Haru’s fists clench at the uncomfortable emotions it elicits. She makes a ‘shoo’ motion under the table, glaring at him.

He steps back, but Sora’s mother is no fool, turning to see what suddenly has Kairi’s attention. She catches sight of him quickly, eyes widening in disbelief as she stands, tugging Sora with her.

“Riku?” She gasps, reaching out. “Oh, sweetheart, is that really you?”

The negatives catch in his throat. She said his name the same way Sora had, with awe and hope, mingled with a numb disbelief that makes his heart hurt.

“Mom-” Sora starts with a wince. She pulls him closer, only releasing him when she’s close enough to touch Haru, pulling him into the little indoor kitchen.

“We’ve been so worried, for you and Sora both. Sora’s been telling me- well, it seems like quite the journey! Are you well? Are you hungry? I can make something.”

She moves as if to bustle off, and Haru can’t take it anymore.

“Ma’am, wait-”

“Please, dear, you know me better than that, my name works just fine.”

“I don’t though.” He croaks, and she pauses, back turned to him. “I’m- I’m not Riku.”

“Oh.” She sets down the bowl she’d picked up on the counter. “I see. Sora?”

“Yeah, mom?” He shares a wince with Kairi at her tone.

“Is there something else you’d like to tell me?”

Sora rubs the back of his head.

“It’s complicated.” He shrugs. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

His mother turns around, taking his hands.

“I’m already worried. Uncomplicate it for me, please.”

“The short story is that I’m a replica.” Haru interrupts, that feeling in his chest boiling over, the words spilling out of him in a rush. “I was made. In a lab. To look like Riku.”

Sora’s mother releases Sora and turns to Haru. There’s a sadness in her eyes he doesn’t understand.

“That sounds hard, dear.”

Was it? He hadn’t really thought about it. Maybe it was.

“I-” Why were the words so hard? “I’m sorry I’m not Riku.”

“Never apologize for who you are.” She says sternly. “Or for who you’re not.”

He leans back. No one had ever said that to him before. He was far more used to DiZ constantly comparing them, putting down him and Naminé for being heartless puppets.

His face feels hot, but he refuses to cry here.

Sora’s mother reaches out to grasp his arms.

“Do I miss Riku? Of course I do. He’s like a second son to me. But never feel like you have to live in his shadow, no good has ever come of living like that. You have your own thoughts, make your own choices. Our experiences make us, my dear. Enjoy them.”

“Thank you.” He whispers. 

She smiles.

“You seemed like you needed it. Would you like to join us for tea? Sora was just telling me about his adventures.”

Haru feels overwhelmed all of a sudden. After a year in the oppressive atmosphere in the mansion with DiZ- it’s too much. His breath hitches, and his fists clench as he turns away.

“I need a minute.” The words come out smoothly, not betraying how strangled he feels.

He hears a chair push back- Sora, probably, and he can imagine the worried look covering the boys face- but he ignores it, walking outside with a purpose he does not feel. He doesn’t go far, only reaching the short steps leading up to the back porch, sitting heavily on them. He feels shaky, and weak. He’s not entirely sure why.

Haru isn’t totally sure how long he’s there, but it can’t be more than a few minutes before he feels someone sit next to him.

“My name is Kaze.” Sora’s mother greets. “I realised you might not have known. Do you have your own name?”

“It’s Haru.” His throat still feels tight, but he manages to reply without letting on about that. “A.. friend gave it to me.” He’s not actually sure about that, he’d only met Vanitas a handful of times, and never been able to talk to him directly but… maybe he’d like to be. Maybe someday they could be.

“It’s nice to meet you, Haru.”

The silence is a little awkward. Haru fiddles with his hands uncomfortably, unsure what to say.

“I didn’t know.” He blurts, and when she tilts her head in confusion, he rushes to elaborate. “Your name. I didn’t know. Riku always called you Mom or Auntie.”

To his relief, Kaze laughs.

“That’s right! Though he hasn’t called me mom since he was very small. He switched to auntie at some point and never really went back.”

Haru wonders if she knows why. He certainly does, though he’s definitely not going to enlighten her. Riku’s panic over his crushes were his own problem. Haru had enough on his plate as it was. There’s a touch to his elbow, and he looks up.

“If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here. And before you ask, no it’s not because you look like Riku. If I must be honest, you look lonely dear, and I’m not the sort to leave alone someone who might need a friend.”

It’s very Sora, Haru thinks. He can see where the boy gets it from.

He opens his mouth, probably to thank her, but before he can there’s a thump and then suddenly Sora is there too, his arms wrapped around Haru from behind, and he stiffens.

“I- Uh-” He stammers, stiff. He feels Sora’s head move, a curious gesture.

“What’s wrong?”

“What are you doing?”

Sora squints, though Haru can barely see it at this angle.

“A hug? I’m hugging you.”

“Oh.” Haru can’t think of anything else to say. There’s a pause as he can almost hear the gears turning in Sora’s head.

“Do you not know what a hug is?” Sora asks, incredulous. Haru shrugs, embarrassed at not knowing. He only just catches Kaze’s expression, which is uncomfortably close to heartbreak.

Sora doesn’t let go, though he moves down a bit so the position is a little less awkward.

“Well,” He starts. “This is a hug. You can relax. Wrap your arms around me if you want.”

It’s hesitant, but Haru slowly lifts his arms, resting them gently across Sora’s shoulders. It’s stiff, he still doesn’t know what he’s doing.

“I’ve given Riku a lot of hugs.” Sora says, and it’s casual enough it almost seems like a non sequitur. “I’m surprised you don’t remember any of them.”

“Not in any of the memories I have.” Haru whispers. There’s a knot in his chest unraveling that he hadn’t even known was there. He’s tense and melting at the same time. It’s weird. He doesn’t want to move ever again. He wants more somehow, unconsciously pressing himself into the body hugging him, absorbing Sora’s natural warmth.

It feels both like forever and like no time and at all when Sora finally lets go. He has to consciously keep himself from letting his hand trail down Sora’s arms as he draws away. He regrets the loss of touch almost immediately.

“We should get going.” That’s Kairi, waiting by the door. “We weren’t supposed to stay long, and we have a lot to do.”

“You’re right.” Sora nods. “You ready?” He looks down at Haru, still sitting on the step.

“Right.” He nods, and stands. Kaze gets up too, grabbing some packed lunches from the counter and follows them to the edge of the property. She hugs Kairi and Sora in turn, pressing firm kisses to their foreheads and telling them to come home safe. She stops in front of Haru. He stands awkwardly, not sure what to expect.

She lifts her arms in invitation.

“Would you like one too?”

There’s a moments hesitation, but only a moment, one born of uncertainty and fear, but it’s overridden by the itch in his skin and the new need he’s only just uncovered within himself. He’s wrapped tightly in her arms, and he blinks back tears.

He feels a kiss pressed into the top of his head, just like with Sora and Kairi, and he presses his face into her shirt, trying to repress the shaking in his limbs.

“Come home safe.” She whispers to him, just like she had with the other two. It makes something powerful ache in his chest, though he’s not sure what. Longing?

“I don’t have a home.” He whispers.

“You do now.” She answers as she pulls away, pressing one more packed lunch gently into his hands. He thinks of Naminé. 

He wonders if Kaze would mind if he brought a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we didn't actually set out with the goal of having Kaze adopt haru and namine in mind this time.... but if it happens it happens. we're not gonna stop the characters if that's what they want yknow XD


	5. The Boat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting used to your son having magic ghosts has to be something of a transition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise chapter! yay!
> 
> first things first, this chapter is a flashback and does involve a trans woman who is not yet out to anyone and hasn't yet chosen a name for herself. Since it's largely from her POV and the only other speaking character is Sora, i managed to keep even unintentional misgendering to a minimum, however it IS still there. stay safe my fellow trans peeps
> 
> and secondly... i know basically nothing about boating. there was some cursory googling and attempts at research, but the most functional boating knowledge i have is i went kayaking one time. not exactly the same lol. so. suspension of disbeleif if i mucked something up real bad please?

It was a bright, sunny day. The waves were clear, the fish were coming in, and everything was as it should be.

It wasn’t to remain that way. 

She’d said her goodbyes to her wife and son as she did every morning, untied her little fishing boat from the dock and set off, enjoying the light breeze and the salt in the air. She was a simple person, with simple pleasures at heart. The sea couldn’t judge her anymore than it could the mackerel. She liked that about it. It could be a cold and unforgiving thing even as it brought life and peace, but it made no qualms about who got which of those. All things were the same to the sea. 

Her boat isn’t the biggest or the fanciest on these islands, but that’s all right. She likes her drab, unimpressive little boat just fine. 

Though as she drags her fingers across the worn little scratches along the wooden bannister, she must amend herself a little. Sora’s attempt at art may have been misguided, but it brought a bit of charm she couldn’t bring herself to fix. 

She loves her son more than anything really. Perhaps that’s simply a parents job, but it fills her with joy to think of him, despite the recent… disturbances. 

She loves her son. 

She does  _ not  _ trust his ghosts. 

The black one especially keeps creeping around the house at night, startling the dog and scaring the salt out of both her and Kaze whenever they have to get up in the night to pee. 

The green one is no better. That one keeps trying to suck up to them, likely sensing their hesitation with the whole situation, and just making it worse. She worries about the kind of trouble Sora might get into with them, much like how she would if he’d fallen in with a real group of much older boys. 

She also wishes they knew where these ghosts had  _ come _ from. When Sora had been younger and started talking about his new friends they had assumed them to be imaginary, perfectly normal for a child his age. Even as he’d gotten older they hadn’t thought much of it. 

But then his ghosts suddenly had bodies- or forms, at least, and her and Kaze had needed to face the uncomfortable truth that there was nothing imaginary about Sora’s new friends. 

Neither of the ghosts could speak, though they were clearly able and intelligent. It took several tries to get anything resembling a reason, and what they got was unbelievable.

After many crumpled papers and at least one temper tantrum (the most polite thing she had to say about how the black one tended to lash out at things), they’d gotten a story about knights wielding magic swords of odd shapes, bodies and hearts and broken families. It seemed like something out of a storybook. She still wasn’t sure if she believed it, just like she still wasn’t really sure if she trusted them with her son. 

These are some of the things she thinks of as she goes through the motions of her livelihood. It’s another thing she enjoys out here; it gives her time to think. 

Which is why it almost doesn’t register at first, when she hears a faint, childlike giggle.

She pauses, confused. Surely sea madness can’t set in that fast?

The giggle sounds again, and now that she’s paying attention she knows exactly who’s it is.

“Sora I know you’re there!” She calls, turning about with hands on hips. “Come on out now.”

“Awwww.” The boy groans exaggeratedly, but he’s got a bright grin on as he hops out from between some boxes. He’s still pretty small for a seven year old, he’d been nearly invisible there. 

“Sora.” Her voice is firm. “What have I told you? This is work, and it can be dangerous. I thought you and Riku were doing stuff today?”

“Not till tonight.” Sora deflects. She sighs. 

“Nothing for it now. Where’s your life jacket?”

“Awwww,” Sora groans. “I don’t need one, dad. I'm a real good swimmer and I’ve got Ven and Vani to save me.”

“Sora.” Her voice grows stern. “You should know better that the water does not play favorites. Jacket. On. Now.”

“Fine.” The boy grumbles as he heads into the tiny belowdeck. She sighs. Save her from beloved, but willful, children.

Sora returns with a bounce in his step though, excited again. He bounds up next to where she’s hauling in her nets, talking before he even reaches her.

“So what are we doing? Is there lots of fish today? What kinds?”

“We’re going home. You’re not supposed to be out here, Sora. Kaze is probably beside herself with worry.”

“No!” Sora protests. “I told her I was goin’ to the play island! Please, dad?”

“Sora..” She sighs, but Sora shakes his head, starting to tear up.

“I just wanted.. To spend some time with you.”

Oh.

“You’re always out on the boat, and.. And..” Sora sniffles loudly and she kneels to be on eye level with him. “I missed you.”

And now he probably thinks she doesn’t want to be around him at all. Oh what a mess.

“I’m sorry, Sora.” She starts, reaching out to wipe away his tears with a thumb. “I missed you too. And Kaze. I never meant to make you feel like that.” She’s going to have to talk to Kaze soon, if she’s noticed too.

“Mom says it’s probably just the fish. Gotta work hard. Or something.” The doubt in Sora’s voice means even he can tell Kaze doesn’t quite believe it. She winces.

“That’s not the reason.” She says quietly. “I promise I’ll tell you both when I’m ready, okay? And I promise that it’s not your fault, or Kaze’s. I just needed some time to think, that’s all.”

Sora sniffs one last time, but it seems like the reassurance has helped. He nods.

“Okay. I’m sorry for interrupting your thinking time. Can I still help?”

Oh she’s a soft heart.

“Sure. But you have to promise to do everything I say, okay? You remember everything I’ve said about boat safety?”

“Yup!” Sora bounces on the balls of his feet, and she chuckles, ruffling his hair.

“Alright. Let’s get to it.”

She doesn’t get quite as much done with little hands to watch and make sure aren’t getting into anything that might hurt them, but that’s okay. It’s still nice, listening to her son babble away as they work, happy as a clam to just be spending time together.

It’s as he’s jabbering and trying to pull in one of the heavy nets that he slips, and the whole thing starts to slip overboard.

“Ah!” He shouts, trying in vain to grab it, when an armoured hand reaches in and grabs it for him.

It’s the green one, she realises as her instinctive step forward comes to a halt. It pulls in the net with ease, making Sora cheer, and it dusts it’s hands jauntily with a job well done.

She still doesn’t trust these ghosts, but Sora doesn’t seem to pick up on that as he turns to her.

“Can Ven help too? He can’t drown so he doesn’t need a lifejacket right?”

“I guess.” She says weakly, not really finding a reason to say no. What would it do if she had? Would it just vanish? Or would it continue hanging around and be in the way? This one at least she doesn’t  _ think _ will get angry.. Probably.

It’ll be fine, hopefully.

So they get back to work, and Sora continues his endless stream of dialogue, everything from the weather, to what his friends have been doing lately, to the weird bugs he found yesterday. It’s not quite as fast paced as when he was younger, but he’s still very good at keeping up a conversation, her boy.

She wipes the sweat from her brow. The sun is beating down hard today. She scans the horizon and turns her head just enough to spot the ghost hovering by the door to the storage. It tilts its head, like a curious puppy, and she wonders what it's seen.

A moment later it whirls around and floats up to her, tugging insistently at her arm.

“Ven, what’s wrong?” Sora asks. The ghost points toward the tiny belowdecks, tugging at her arm again. There’s not much in the cramped space, some storage crates fastened to the floor containing mostly fish, her radio, and some other useful odds and ends. She follows the ghost, figuring there’s no harm in at least checking out what has it so spooked.

As she nears the door she can hear her short range radio inside, fizzing insistently as someone tries to get through. Her brows narrow. Odd.

“All boats- fzz- return to port immediately- repeat- fzzzzt- unforeseen storm building south-south-fzzt”

Her heart seizes.

Any storm was dangerous for a boat as small as hers, but this one had to be major for them to be broadcasting across all channels. She whirls around.

“Sora!” She barks. “Belowdecks, now! You!” She points at the ghost. “Help me stow things, we need to move.”

Trust or no trust, she’ll take the extra hands if it can get them home faster.

“I can help!” Sora protests.

“Of course you can.” She nods. “If we don’t make it back in time things will get very bumpy. I need you to make sure everything is stowed down below too, check the straps holding containers down, all that. Okay?”

He nods, and then rushes off. The hold wasn’t huge, and she ran a relatively tight ship, but she hopes that will keep him there until either they make it back or the storm hits.

She hopes the former.

Even as she goes through the motions of pulling in nets and stowing cargo she can see the dark clouds building unnervingly rapidly above them. It feels like only minutes before the sky is dark and the wind starts to pick up. She steers the boat towards the too-distant shore as the waves start to roll beneath them.

They’re not going to make it.

It’s not the first squall she’s been caught in, and it likely won’t be the last, but on an island like theirs everyone knows any squall can be dangerous to even the most seasoned of boaters. On the up side it’s probably only a single storm cell passing through, since there hadn’t been any warnings when she’d gone out that morning. On the down side, judging by the rain and wind already pelting them it was going to be a nasty one.

She pushes the motor into full speed toward shore. If she makes it her boat will probably be toast, but that’s a sacrifice she’s willing to make in return for Sora’s safety. There had been other boats on the water, there always were, but none nearby last she’d checked. She can only hope it stays that way as visibility starts to degrade.

She squints against the wind and water, wishing more than anything she had a covered cabin. She hasn’t seen any lightning yet but she wasn’t going to hold her breath it was going to stay that way.

“Dad?” She can barely hear Sora over the rising wind, but it makes her heart stutter. The black and red ghost is with him, floating protectively above.

“Sora!” She shouts over the noise. “Back down below!”

“I wanna help!” He calls back. She shakes her head.

“Sora please, I need you to-”

She doesn’t get the chance to finish as a wave rocks the boat, sending water cascading over the edges. She holds on to her post, but her heart seizes as she looks for Sora.

She sees him against the shallow wall of the boat, still inside but clearly knocked silly. She cuts her acceleration and moves toward him as quickly as she can.

The ghost gets there first, and somehow she’d forgotten it was around. It’s fizzing around the edges erratically, as if like smoke in the wind, but it stubbornly helps Sora to his feet alongside the black one. She gives him a quick check over as the boat rocks treacherously beneath them.

“You’re alright?” She shouts, needing to be heard over the howling wind even at this distance now. Sora nods, but doesn’t get the chance to say anything as they’re knocked sideways by another strong wave.

She grips Sora’s arm tightly as she’s shoved over, even as water tries to blind and choke her. She barely has enough time to get her bearings again before the world tilts dangerously and another force hits her hard enough to send her over the wall entirely.

She gropes blindly for the edge of the boat even as it crashes into her, but though she thinks she touches it, it’s not enough to grip as they’re sent overboard.

In the next moments she’s aware of only three things.

One, Sora is still in her left hand, which is curled in a deathgrip she’s sure will leave bruises on both of them tomorrow. As long as there is a tomorrow to be had, she’ll take that trade too.

Two, the buffeting wind and water ever present around them, effectively blinding her.

And three, the clawed grip around her wrist.

When she finally manages to blink her eyes open enough to see anything, blurry and chaotic though it is, she sees the black ghost straining in the middle of a chain, grip painfully tight around her wrist, and gripped in turn by the green ghost holding onto the side of the boat by the bare edges of his fingers, pulling them back toward the boat inch by painful inch.

There isn’t much she can do where she is, the angle is wrong and she can’t grip the ghost back, so she focuses on holding on to Sora. She can feel his smaller hands grabbing at her jacket, doing what he can to hold on himself.

The green one manages to pull itself back into the boat, followed by the black one, and then both reach down for the human members. She shoves Sora up ahead of her, and the black ghost takes him easily, letting the boy’s shivering body wrap itself around its waist.

The green one helps her up. She coughs, taking only a moment to get her breath back, and then she starts moving again.

“Below.” She points, unsure if they can hear her over the storm but hoping she’s made her point. The black one doesn’t react to her specifically but does do as she says, taking the boy into the tiny compartment below. 

The green one is barely there, nearly translucent, and yet still trying to stay present. She doesn’t have time to focus on it though, as she moves back to steering. She can’t see shore anymore and she can only hope she’s still pointed in the right direction.

Thankfully, she is, she finds a small eternity later as the shell of her boat lurches coming into contact with the disturbed sands of the beach.

It almost doesn’t seem real, at first. All the stress of the last… however long refusing to take their leave. Eventually she manages to pry herself off the steering and pull open the doors to below. The ghosts are both gone, the green one having vanished as soon as the boat touched shore, and the black one only vanishing once she’d pulled the doors open. She pulls Sora up, stumbling out of the boat and across the sodden sand with the seven year old wrapped securely around her torso.

He’s heavy, she’s exhausted, but she doesn’t stop or put him down until she’s stumbled up to the door of her house.

She could faint with sheer relief at seeing Kaze nearly vaulting down the stairs in worry towards them.

-

She doesn’t get the chance to thank Sora’s ghosts for a while.

They’re skittish creatures, which she supposes is fair, considering. Her and Kaze hadn’t exactly been welcoming of them when it had first become clear they were more than just Sora’s imaginary friends. They still come out, that much is obvious, but it seemed rarely when either parent was around.

But in the meantime.. She’d started listening more. When Sora talked about his friends, she listened more carefully and with less discomfort than she did before. The green one was Ventus, a kind, curious boy who liked playing with Sora. The black one was Vanitas, a boy who had been hurt badly, but was trying very hard according to Sora. Trying hard at what she could only guess, but she could only assume that anything that left two children sharing a heart with a third couldn’t have been a particularly pleasant situation.

“How old are they?” She’d asked one time, out of curiosity. He pauses in that way she’s starting to recognise as when he’s talking to people she can’t see. She waits until his eyes focus back in on her.

“Ven says they were fifteen, when they ended up with me.” He answers. She hums. She doesn’t know exactly when the boys had come together, but it had been a few years at least. Anywhere from three years to Sora’s whole life then.

She’s not sure about a pair of 19-22 year olds (at the oldest) sharing a body with a 7 year old, but there isn’t really a whole lot she can do about it. Mostly… She’s sad. It sounds like these boys have had so much of their lives stolen from them.

It’s another week before she sees either of them.

She’d gotten up for a glass of water, deep in the night, padding through the house she’s long had memorized in complete darkness aside from the ambient moonlight. It’s only when she turns into the kitchen that the fridge door slams and she only barely manages to quell a surprised yell.

It’s the black one, Vanitas, barely visible in the dark, floating like some kind of malevolent poltergeist, red accents reflecting in the dim light.

She takes a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

“You scared me.” She says. She can almost hear the unimpressed snort he makes the way his head twitches. She doesn’t take offense. “Did I startle you?”

Vanitas crosses his arms, puffing his chest. Ah yes, big tough guy, definitely not startled by anything.

“I wanted to say thank you.” She says, and the way the ghost's arms uncross tell her he hadn’t expected this. “During the storm. You saved us, but more than that you saved Sora. I can’t thank you enough for that.”

Vanitas turns away, almost as if ignoring her. She purses her lips.

“Could you tell Ventus I want to see him? I want to thank him too, in person.”

He makes a gesture, but she’s not sure what he means. He doesn’t bother repeating himself though, turning away again.

“You know, Kaze knows some sign. If you like, we could all learn together. Be able to talk properly.”

He gives her a sign everyone knows, and she holds up her hands.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Just know the offer’s there. I’ll tell Ventus too.”

That seemed to give him pause. If she’d read his somewhat troubled character correctly, he wouldn’t be able to stand Ventus having something he didn’t.

He didn’t say anything, nonverbal or otherwise, after that, quietly disappearing back upstairs to where she knows Sora is sound asleep. She hopes he takes her up on it.

She owes them her life,  _ Sora’s _ life. Getting to know them a little is really the least she can do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i absolutely want to write more ventus and vanitas + baby sora and family shenanigans. eventually. when motivation allows it.
> 
> for those familiar with cometverse, yes this is the same storm that killed her in cometverse, and no sora was not on the boat in that one, instead waiting at home with Kaze and Riku. i still feel bad about that so in this verse she gets to be alive and happy
> 
> further side note since it's not going to come up until DDD; her name will be Aurelia, once she chooses it.


	6. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old and New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter heavily implies Riku's bio family is at the very least extremely neglectful and likely some kind of abusive as well. jsyk
> 
> anyways, i managed to get this scribbled out at some point, takes place between kh2 and ddd, which makes this is very well timed.

A strangled yell has Kaze shooting out of bed and down the hall before she’s even properly opened her eyes.

She’s always been like this, even, or perhaps especially, when Sora had been young. She was always the first to get to Sora whenever his usually heavy sleep was disturbed by nightmares or bumps in the night. Lia was a heavier sleeper, undoubtedly where their son had gotten it from, but it usually wasn’t long before she joined them, murmuring lullaby’s until Sora returned to a restful sleep.

They know Sora’s journey was difficult, and they expected this sort of thing earlier in honesty. Sora has been home nearly two weeks now, and the sort of things he’d seen would give anyone nightmares.

What they did not expect was the monster dripping black standing in Sora’s room when Kaze opens the door.

She lets out a gasp as the glowing yellow eyes turn to her, face impassive, but unable to be still, twitching to and fro.

Kaze hears Lia gasp as she comes up behind her, just as confused and a little scared by the apparition in their son's room.

“Sora?” Lia whispers, and it’s only then that Kaze realises the shadowed figure looks so very familiar.

It flees out the open window, almost too fast for them to see, leaving the two stunned women alone, no Sora in sight.

-

Riku won’t say he’s happy to be home, exactly. He’s happy to be with Sora and Kairi, and see the happy places of his childhood. Of course he’s happy for that. Home itself? Not so much.

Still, at least his bed was still there, even if his parents had thrown out nearly everything else in his absence, and it was comfortable enough. Better than the worn mattress he’d been using in Traverse Town anyway.

He still doesn’t exactly sleep well. Being home meant being awkward and tense at nearly every moment. He’s hyper aware of why he’d spent so much of his childhood… anywhere but here. Was seventeen too young to go house hunting? It really is unfortunate that home is just as exhausting and stifling as he remembers.

Terra has… not been impressed, but aside from one incident where he’d snarled at Riku’s parents, Riku had largely convinced him to hang back. To keep the peace. The result of this is that Terra spends much of his time sleeping, lest he be tempted to snap at them again.

Ansem and Xemnas remain buried, and for this he is quietly thankful. He doubts he could belay them with words the way he can Terra.

Riku understands. He really does. He’d done terrible things in order to leave this place after all. But he won’t make the situation worse before he has the chance to leave it. Again. Preferably without destroying the whole world in his wake this time.

These are the thoughts that plague him late into the night as he attempts to drift off to sleep, and it’s only when his phone blips at him that he finally gives up, rolling over to pick up the device.

It takes him three tries to comprehend that the message is from Kaze, using Sora’s phone. He sighs heavily, dropping the phone to rest on his face, too tired to keep holding it up.

“Sora you didn’t tell them about that?” He mumbles. “Really?”

“I think he meant to and just forgot.” Data Sora pipes up as Riku picks the phone back up. Riku sighs again.

“Well I guess if Kairi’s not awake she will be soon…”

-

Night is not Kairi’s favourite time of day.

She was a notorious early riser in fact, so being drug out of bed by Riku to go find a wayward Sora did not rank highly on her favourite activities, but that being said she did it anyway, concern for her friend overriding her lingering irritability. 

Sora’s mom’s canvas the area around their house but the boy appears to have vanished. Once it’s clear he’s nowhere nearby Riku and Kairi share a meaningful glance and head toward the docks in silence.

They climb into one of the little rowboats lined there, nearly too small for their almost grown bodies now, but they make it work. They row out to the play island.

It stands dark and eerie in the moonless night, sending shivers down Kairi’s spine. It reminds her of… Well. A night that weighs heavily on all of them, she’s sure. She can only imagine how Riku feels about it.

He seems focused on finding Sora though, she realises as she watches him scan the treeline intently. Maybe that’s how he’s dealing with it.

“No sign of him.” She mutters as they walk the beach, waves lapping gently at their shoes. Riku frowns. “Would he even be able to row, when he’s… like that?”

Riku sighs, running a hand through his hair. He seems frustrated.

“I don’t know.” He admits. “But we had to check.”

He turns his head towards the Secret Place, and she knows they have to check there too, but she also knows how much he doesn’t want to.

She doesn’t need him to have told her to know he’s seen the scribbled drawings her and Sora had put there not long before the islands had fallen.

She chews on her lip, and then takes his hand on impulse. He blinks down at her in surprise.

She smiles, and she hopes he can see it well enough to be comforting. She tugs him towards the Secret Place, getting almost to the little alcove hidden by leaves before Riku digs in his heels and pulls them to a stop. She looks back towards Riku, whose head is bowed and eyes shadowed.

“Kairi, I…” He stumbles over his words awkwardly. She tightens her grip.

“I know.” She says softly. “It’s just one more mistake we made.”

He looks up, meeting her eyes.

“Mistake?”

She shrugs.

“I tried to keep something that wasn’t mine. It should have been  _ all _ of us, for  _ our _ friendship.” She answers.

He doesn’t smile, but he doesn’t look quite so melancholy now either and she takes that as a win.

They both have to stoop to enter the Secret Place now. It’s near pitch dark inside as the leaves and cave filter out the little remaining starlight. Kairi takes a deep breath and pulls on her light, letting it form, contained and benign, in the palm of her free hand. 

They hear a shuffling from further in the cave. Just the barest hints of a shoe scraping across dirt and the shuffle of fabric. Riku’s hand tightens around Kairi’s, but though they both want to move faster they keep the same steady pace as they creep further in.

They find him in the innermost area, and Kairi sucks in a breath on seeing him despite being warned. He’s almost indistinguishable from the darkness around him, only the glow of his eyes to give him away. 

It reminds Kairi all too much of a heartless, makes her remember a time when she’d stared down at a shadow and  _ knew _ who it was. It doesn’t scare her the way it would most, but it does concern her. Concerns them both. They wish they knew why this kept happening.

Sora edges forward, claws scraping against the rock as he lopes nearly on all fours, but he pauses before coming into contact with either of them this time, a distinct difference from when this had happened before. 

“Sora?” Riku kneels, as if trying to calm a feral cat. Maybe he is. He doesn’t let go of Kairi’s hand.

Sora tilts his head, but doesn’t react otherwise.

“Your moms are worried.” Kairi adds, kneeling next to Riku. “And it’s late. We should go home.”

Sora does not come closer. In fact he turns his head away, and Riku and Kairi nearly lose sight of him without the glow of his eyes in the dark. He lopes off, almost leaving the short range of Kairi’s ball of light entirely, and comes to rest in the far corner of the cave under a very significant pair of rock drawings.

Kairi feels Riku tense beside her, and she rubs a thumb over the back of his hand, guilt clawing at her. She doesn’t wish she could take it back, but she does wish she’d thought ahead more back then.

They move forward together, and come close enough they can just barely make out Sora setting something at the base of the rocks before he turns and lopes back to them, once more worming his way between their clasped hands insistently. They release their grip, and Riku ruffles Sora’s hair fondly.

Kairi, ever curious, steps around them to look at what Sora had put down. She picks it up, confusion etched onto her features.

“Sea glass?” She says, and Riku steps closer to look for himself. Sora trails after him, twitching seeming almost irritated that their attention had been drawn away from him.

“Oh.” Riku says as she hands him the bauble. “I used to give these to Sora when we were kids. We called them Pretty Stones before we knew what they actually were and the name kind of stuck. In fact the last one I gave to him was just before…”

He trails off, looking at the stone intently. There’s no need to clarify what he’s referring to. Sora nudges at his free hand.

Kairi looks down into those eerily blank glowing eyes, and then looks back to where the rock drawings still sit innocently, staring out into the cave.

“Oh.” She chuckles. “I get it now.”

Riku tilts his head at her, in a movement so similar to Sora earlier she nearly laughs. Instead she plucks the pretty stone from his palm, walks over to the rock drawings, and sets it exactly where Sora had placed it earlier, directly beneath where the crude drawings arms crossed.

She walks back to them and smiles.

“Well, now that that’s taken care of.” She dusts her palms like a job well done. “It’s beyond late and I’m tired.”

Riku shrugs, though he still seems a little lost. He puts a hand on top of Sora’s head.

“Yeah, c’mon Sora. Everyone will want to know we found you.”

He follows them faithfully, much to the relief of both his companions. It would be much too easy to lose him with how well he blends into the ambient dark.

To their surprise, Haru is waiting by the entrance of the Secret Place, leaning against a wall casually, as if it isn’t some obscene hour of the morning.

“Good.” He nods. “You found him.”

“We did.” Riku nods. “Better question, why are you out here?”

“He’s my friend too.” Haru scowls, and relents only as Riku tips his head to cede the point. “But uh. I guess Kaze had a feeling he might be out here too and asked me to check since she couldn’t get a hold of you two.”

Kairi pats her pockets, and out of the corner of her eye sees Riku doing the same. Both come up empty, phones likely still sitting on their bedsides at home.

“Well, we did find him.” Kairi says. “And I vote we all go home now.”

“Yeah.” Riku sighs. Sora circles around both him and Kairi, and even does a loop around Haru, nudging and touching each of them as he goes. “Hopefully he settles down at some point so we can sleep.”

“Hopefully.” Kairi agrees as the group makes their way down to the beach. She casts her gaze around, only seeing the boat her and Riku had come in on.

“Haru where’s your boat?” She asks, and he looks at her, confused.

“I don’t have one. I teleported.”

She frowns at him.

“I’m sure Auntie Kaze would have let you borrow one. You shouldn’t teleport everywhere anyway. Especially without your coat.”

“It’s fine.” He shrugs. “Anyway, I’m gonna head back, let Kaze know you found him.”

“Oh no you don’t.” Riku grabs the back of his borrowed hoodie as Haru turns away, dragging him back. “Kairi’s right about the teleporting thing, and you should learn how to handle a boat anyway if you’re gonna live here.”

Haru gives him a blank glare.

“At night. With four people in a two person boat. One of whom I doubt remembers anything about boats right now.” Haru says flatly, gesturing to Sora, who is clambering across the wooden panels curiously. “Besides, I remember enough from you.”

Riku regards him for a moment.

“Which side is the prow on?”

“You’re quizzing me about this?” Haru is incredulous. “Seriously?”

Riku merely gestures towards the waiting boat. Haru does not pout. Not at all. Kairi kneels down to hug Sora so she can bury her giggles into his hair. He seems delighted by this.

“..... The left?” Haru finally gives in. Riku huffs and then pushes him towards the boat.

“Come on, we can at least get the terminology down on the way back.”

Kairi and Sora follow, squishing into the boat all while Haru grumbles his protests.

The boat barely keeps above water and they nearly capsize twice, but they make it back to shore intact, and that’s good enough as far as any of them are concerned. Sora lopes off ahead, barely disturbing the sand despite his erratic movements. Haru mutters his excuses and leaves, heading back to… wherever he’d been staying since he’d arrived here.

He won’t tell them, and it worries Kairi if she’s being honest. She wouldn’t put it past him to be staying on a bench somewhere out of pride. At least it was nice out, and not monsoon season.

Maybe tomorrow she’ll try and track him down again. Riku will almost certainly be willing to help her again.

In the meantime they make their way back to Sora’s home, Sora himself leading the way. The light at the porch is on, and Lia is waiting at the door, clearly nearly asleep while standing. She jerks awake as Sora brushes up against her.

“Sora!” She gasps, crouching to get a better look at him, holding his face in her hands. “We were so worried. Still worried. Is he okay?” She looks up at Riku and Kairi at the last part, concern etched into the lines of her face.

“He’s fine.” Kairi assures, and hopes she’s right. “This happened before, and he returned to normal eventually.”

“I think it happens when he’s overwhelmed.” Riku adds. “You said you heard a shout, right? He might have had a nightmare.”

Lia nods.

“Kaze was there first, like always, but I do remember hearing it. You’re sure he’ll be okay?”

“We’ll make sure of it.” Kairi says, putting as much confidence as she can into her voice.

Lia nods, accepting this, and then moves aside so they can get through the doorway.

“Kaze is still out looking, I’m going to let her know you’ve found him. Would you mind staying for a bit, just to be sure he’s okay?”

“Of course.” Riku nods, and then she’s off, out into the darkened streets. Riku and Kairi turn around, finding Sora already halfway up the stairs to his room.

They follow him up, and then wait in the doorway as he climbs up into the bed. His parents must have gotten a bigger one for him once he’d come home, because the old one that used to be there would barely have fit Sora, let alone how spacious it is for him now.

Sora rustles around his blankets, bundling them up until it’s more a complicated knot than a blanket, and then curls up in them.

Riku smiles a bit at it. Sora rarely slept with blankets on top even normally, so this was just a step further he supposed.

Kairi steps back and he follows her. They both know where the guest room is, and they’ll probably have to play ocean-storm-seagull to see who has to sleep on the couch. Both know that neither of them are going home tonight.

They’re stopped when Sora’s head shoots up as they leave his sight and he scrambles out of the bed, shoving his way past them. Riku blinks in surprise as clawed hands gently but firmly push them back towards his room.

“Sora?” Kairi asks. Sora butts his head against her elbow, still pushing them both. He seems irritated, despite his passive face.

Once they’re inside Sora leaps back onto the bed and curls up once more.

“I think he wants us to stay.” Riku says, and there’s a bit of a laugh in his voice at how ridiculous this all is. Kairi huffs.

“Well I’m not sleeping on the floor.” She says as she climbs onto the bed. “Move over doofus.” She nudges Sora aside, who does so without any apparent reservation.

Riku doesn’t have her confidence, and instead steals one of Sora’s pillows before laying down against the thankfully plush rug.

The irony is that despite being much less comfortable than his bed at home, he’d still much rather be here.

There’s a paff noise, like someone slapping a flat palm against fabric. Once, then three sequentially, then two more, each more insistent than the last. He hears Kairi giggle, a rustle of fabric, and then opens his eyes to find Sora staring right into his eyes from uncomfortably close.

“Ah!” He jerks back, surprised. Sora just leans closer. He pat-pat-pats at Riku’s face a few times before leaping over Riku, tugging at his loose hoodie insistently.

It’s clear what Sora wants.

“We won’t all fit, Sora.” Riku sighs. It’s too late (early?) for this. “I’ll be fine on the floor. We used to do it all the time as kids, remember?”

“I don’t think he’s gonna take no for an answer.” Kairi says, the smile in her voice is very nearly infuriating. “Better just get up here.”

“We won’t all  _ fit, _ Kairi.” Riku stresses. The bed was bigger, but it still wouldn’t fit three nearly grown teenagers lengthwise.

“Sure we will.” Kairi says, all confidence. “Sora seems to like curling up like this, and I don’t mind doing it either, and that should leave enough room if we arrange it right.”

Riku sighs, knowing he’s no match for both Kairi and Sora’s combined stubbornness. He gets up, slipping onto the crowded bed with a minimum of finagling. Sora seems pleased, or at least as far as they can tell, crawling over them both to find his own position amongst them. Riku grunts as he’s kneed in the gut and Kairi yelps as something that should not be stepped on is stepped on, but eventually they manage to find something they’re all at least somewhat comfortable with.

“Goodnight, Riku, Sora.” Kairi murmurs. Riku snorts.

“Good Morning more like. It’s so late even our heartmates are asleep.”

“OHh shut up and go to sleep.” She backhands his shin, the easiest place for her to reach right now. Riku just chuckles.

“Goodnight, Kairi.” He returns. He can feel the sun just peeking over the horizon. “Goodnight, Sora.”

They’re out like lights within moments.

When Kaze checks on them the next morning she finds Riku on his back, Kairi curled into his side, and Sora sprawled comfortably across them both, skin and hair his usual shades of brown and completely back to normal.

She sighs in relief, and heads downstairs to make breakfast.

**Author's Note:**

> every chapter is gonna be a different little moment, and updates on this one are going to be much more sporadic, as they're just gonna happen whenever i have a scene i want to write but didn't get it into the fic itself. it happens when it happens, yknow?


End file.
